Excavating apparatus



W. J. BARNES.

EXCAVATING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION men MAYI, I919.

1 ,3 1 5, 903 Patented Sept. 9, 1919.

w. J. BARNES).

EXCAVATING APPAfiATUS. APPLICATION FILED MAY 7. 1919- 1,315,903. Patented Sept. 9, 1919.

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WILLIAM JAMES BARNES, OF MACON, GEORGIA.

ExcAvA'rnve Arrsnarns.

or excavation, the shovel being adaptedto be loaded at one point along said cable and by means of a stz'itionary engine moved to a second point along the cable where-the contents of the shovel are discharged. This form of excavating apparatus is particularly adapted for removing over-burden from deposits of all kinds, also for mining brick and tile clay, sand and gravel, soft shale, and all similar materials in which it is desired to make a long but comparatively shallow excavation in contradistinction to the ordinary mining shaft.

The objects of the invention are to provide an excavating apparatus of this char acter which may employ a standing tight lme or trackway instead of the well known slack line, whichivill also allow a wide out to he made \vitl' out moving the cable by so designing the. shovel apparatus that it may be loaded at some distance on either side of the cable, and in which an automatic dumping feature isincorporated which per-V mits the loading crew on the ground to make a simple ad ustment on the shovelitsell which will cause the shovel to dump its load at any prcdeterinined point along the cable.

it is not necessary to employ as many men as are now employed to operate devices of this general character, and the apparatus is also simpler and. has no attaclni'ients for automatically dumping the shovel which are inm'cessihle except by means of ladders, as is the ease in automatic dumping shovels of this type now in use. p

The invention will be fully disclosed in Specification of Letters latent.

Application meama 7, 1919. Serla1No.29b,356.

AS a result of my improved construction .vated from the Patented Sept. 9, 19.19.;

the following description taken in connec tion with the accompanying drawings in which a Figure 1 is a section through a gravel pit showing my improved excavating apparatus mounted for operation. l Fig.2 a perspective view ofa portion of the apparatus showing the shove]. a1

ranged for excavation to one side of the track cable.

Fig. 3 is a rear view of the shovel.

Fig. 4 is a side view of the same.

And Fig. 5 is the top View.

In Figs. 1 and 2 a tight line or track cable is shown stretched across the excava tion, one end of'this tight line passing over a supporting structure 11 oil, any desired kind and being anchored to the ground as at 12, the other end being secured to the triple drum stationary steam engine 13 on the opposite. side of the excavation. A carrier 14 from which the shovel is adapted to be suspendedis provided with rollers 15 which roll upon the cable 10 as the carrier moves therealong. This carrier is snbstan-r tially of a rectangular shape and is also provided with rollers 16 which serve as sheaves adaptedtopass for purposes hereinafter to he explained. The shovel is indicated by S and comprises a bucket portion and a frame portion pivotally secured together. On the upper part of the frame portion is rotatably mounted a wheeler sheave 18 and the cahle 17 after passing over one of the pulleys 16 of the carrier passes under the wheel 18 of the bucket an iover the opposite wheel 16 r or pulley wheels over which a cable 17 is r of the carrier, one end of the rope being connected to the stationary structure lland the other end being secured to one drum of the triple drum engine 13. Itwill hefseen from this construction that the engine winds up the cable 17 the slack will be taken out of the same and the shovel will he eleground to the carrier. A cable 19 attached to one end of the carrier and has its opposite end secured to a second drum of the stationary engine 13 and. by Winding this cable around the druin the carrier may be drawn toward the stationary engine, the force ofgravity in this to tip or particular case, being sufficient to move the carrier in the opposite direction when the cable is released from the drum.

Still another cable 20 has one end attached to a third drum on thestationary engine and its other end attached to the shovel and this cable comprises the means for drawing the shovel along the ground in loading it in the well known manner.

Referring to the drawings of the shovel in detail it will be seen that it comprises, as previously mentioned, a frame portion and a bucket portion. The bucket portionis 1ndicated at 21 and is preferably made of sheet metal in the usual manner though being somewhat deeper and not so long as the ordinary drag line bucket. A brace 22 "is bolted to the sides of the bucket near its front or open end to prevent spreading of the sides when loaded and this brace is also connected to the rear wall by means of braces 23 so that it has sufficient strength to resist the pull of the drag chain 24 connected thereto by means of a loop member 25 secured at its middle point. To the side walls of the bucket and near the bottom thereof are also similarly connected chains 26, the chains 24 and 26 extending forwardly to a ring 27 to which the cable 20 is connected. The pullof the cable 20 is by these chains distributed to three points of the bucket in such a way that it is evenly drawn along the ground in loading and has no tendency turn over.

Pivoted to the sides of the bucket at 28 is a yoke member 29 of iron which extends upwardly and across the bucket near its middlepoint and which serves to support the same when the frame is lifted by means of the cable 17 lifting wheel 18. To the middle portion of yoke 29 is bolted or otherwise suitably secured a housing 30 comprising two members secured together at right angles in such a way as to protect the wheel 18 which is mounted upon an axle or shaft 31 journaled in this housing.

Also mounted on shaft 31 and firmly se cured thereto is a pinion 32 which intermeshes with a gear 33 journaled on a short shaft 34 located above the shaft 31. A drum 35 is also mounted 011 shaft 34 and the pinion 33 and drum 35 are rigidly connected together. It will be apparent that rotation of the wheel 18, which is firmly fixed on the shaft 31, will rotate the drum 35 through the intermeshing gears 32 and 33 in either direction, depending upon the direction in which the wheel 18 is rotated. In order that the yoke member and the wheel 18 be firmly supported, diagonal braces 36 have their upper ends journaled on the shaft 31 and their lower ends bolted or rigidly secured otherwise to a horizontal yoke-shaped member 37 which has its ends secured to the vertical yoke 29 and which extends around the rear end of the bucket as shown in the drawings. Additional braces 38 are provided to further reinforce the frame work.

Suitably journaled in supports 39 secured along the top rear edge of the bucket is a rotatable shaft 40 having a lever 41 rigidly secured thereto and also earn members 42 near its ends. Catches 43 rigidly secured to the bucket are positioned above member 42 and these catches 43 are adapted to cooperate with pivoted latches 44 whose lower ends are pivoted to member 37.

The outer end of lever 41 is provided with an eye and to this eye portion is connected one end of a chain or rope 45,.the other end of which is attached to the drum 35.

Springs 46 on opposite sides of the bucket have their upper ends connected to the outside of the walls of the bucket and their lower ends to the member 37. The function of these springs is to rotate the bucket back into the position illustrated in the drawings, that is, the loading position, after the same has been dumped, and to limit this rotative motion stops 47 are secured to the sides of the bucket, which abut against member 37 when the bucket is horizontal to prevent further rotation.

The operation of the mechanism described is as follows:

Then the bucket has been loaded at one point along the cable 10 and it is desired that it be removed to and dumped at a second point, at, say, two hundred or three hundred feet distant from the loading point, the operator adjusts the chain or cable 45 to a certain length, by adjusting the position of hook 50 from link to link, the length of this cable controlling the distance of the dumping point of the bucket from the load ing point. The engine is then operated to wind up the liftingscable 17 and the shovel islifted from the ground toward the track cable 10. It is obvious that as the slack is taken out of the cable 17 and the shovel lifted, the wheel 18 will rotate thereby turning the drum 35 and shortening the cable 45. lVhen the shovel has been sufficiently elevated the cable 19 is wound up by the stationary engine, drawing the carrier 14 along the trackway, the cable 17 remaining stationary. It is also obvious that movement of the carrier 14 along the trackway will cause the wheel 18 to further rotate since the cable 17 is stationary, thereby further winding up the cable 45 around drum 35.

WVhen the carrier has reached the point on the track cable which was previously selected by the loading crew as a dumping point and for which the length of chain 45 was adjusted, the drum 35 will have wound up all the slack in cable 45 and further rotation of the drum will exert a pull on the outer end of lever 41 which rotates shaft 40. As shaft 40 rotates the members 42 fixed thereto serve ad; usted at the point where the shovel. is

as cam members and lift the latches 14: so

that they clear the catches 43; As the bucket member is pivoted to the frame at such a point that a vertical line through the cen ter of gravity of the load is between the front of the bucket and the point at which it is pivoted to the frame, the bucket will have a tendency to dump itself when loaded, and as soon as the latches H are lifted to release the bucket it will automatically tip forward and dump itself, the springs 416 serving to return the empty bucket to its former position in which the latch 4:4: again locks it as soon as the shovel has commenced its return trip to the loading point and the tension in the chain or cable 45 has been relieved.

In Fig. 2 of the drawings I have diagranr matically illustrated a method whereby the shovel may be used to excavate a consideia able distance on each side of the line '10. A sheave or pulley 17 is anchored to the ground under the line 10 and the cable is passed therearound. The pull of a stationary engine may in this manner he utilived to draw the bucket in any direction desired, thereby enabling the operators of the apparatus to make quite a wide out without shifting the stationary engine 13 and the supporting structure 11. This is a peculiar advantage oi. my construction and cannot be realized where the common slack line ap paratus used or where automatic dumping apparatuses are used which involve additional cables stretched to the shovel from the sides of the out.

As the shovel is elevated the wheel 18 turns in. one direction as theslack is taken out oi the cable 17 by drawing it toward the engine. When the shovel is fully elevated it may be moved in either direction along cable 10 thereby further turning wheel 18 and drum in the same direction or turning it in the reverse direction, unwinding that portion of chain which has been wound up in the elevating of the shovel and then winding it up again in a reverse direction around the drum. This must be taken into account by the operators of the apparatus.

From the above description the construetion and operation of the improved excavator will be apparent. It will also be obvious i that many changesin the form and construetion may be made. I do not therefore limit myself to the precise form and construction illustrated, but what I desire to secure by Letters Patent is: y

1. In excavating apparatus, in combination, a track cable, a shovel adapted to be loaded at one point along said cable and to be unloaded at a second point along said cable, a carrier on said cable adapted to be moved therealong in either direction, means for raising and lowering the shovel, and

means mounted on the shovel, adapted to be loaded, for causing the shovel to discharge its load at any predetermined point along the track cable.

In excavating apparatus, in combination, a track cable, a shovel adapted to be loaded at one point along said cable and to be unloaded at a second point along said cable, said shovel. noriinally tending to discharge its load, rest 'aining means on said shovel for preventing it from discharging its load except when said means is released. a carrier on said cable adapted to be moved therealong in either direction, means connecting the shovel and carrier whereby the shovel may be raised from the ground to the carrier and returned to the ground, and means mounted on the shovel, adapted to be adjusted at the point where the shovel is loaded, for automatically releasing the restraining means at any predetermined point along the track cable, to allow the shovel to discharge its load.

3. In excavating apparatus, in combina tion, a track cable, a shovel comprising a frame and a body portion for holding material to be conveyed, the body portion being pivotally secured to the frame and being constructed and designed to rotate about its pivotal axis to discharge its load due to the force of gravity, means for returning the body portion to loading position after such discharge, restraining means for preventing thebody portion from discharging its load except when said means is released, a carrier on said cable adapted to be moved therealong in either direction, means connecting the shovel and carrier whereby the former maybe raised from the ground to the carrier and returned to the ground, and means mounted on the frame adapted to be adjusted at the point where the shovel is lead: ed, for releasing the restraining means at any predetermined point along the track ca ble, to allow the body portion to discharge its load. 1

4. In excavating apparatus, in combination, a track cable, a shovel comprising a frame and a bucket portion for holding material to be conveyed, the bucket being pivotally secured to the frame and being constructed and designed to rotate about it pivotal axis under the influence of gravity when loaded to discharge its lead, a spring connected to said frame and to said bucket for returning the latter to loading position after such discharge, a latch for preventin the body portion from discharging its load except when released, said latch automatically locking the bucket in loading position when the latter is returned by the spring, a carrier 011 said cable adapted to be moved therealong in either direction, means connecting the shovel and carrier whereby the former may be raised from the ground to the carrier and returned to the ground, and means mounted on the shovel adapted to be adjusted at the point where the shovel is loaded, for releasing the catch at any predetermined point along the track cable, to allow the bucket to discharge its load.

5. In excavating apparatus, in combination, a track cable, a shovel adapted to be loaded at one point along said cable and to be unloaded at a second point along said cable, a carrier 011 said cable adapted to be moved therealong in either direction, means for raising the shovel from the ground to the carrier and for lowering it and means mounted on the shovel,, adapted to be adjusted at the point where the shovel is leaded, for causing the shovel to discharge its load at any predetermined point along the track cable, said means including a wheel mounted on the shovel adapted to engage and roll on a cable as the carrier and shovel are moved parallel with the trackway.

6. An excavating apparatus comprising, in combination, a track cable, a second cable, a shovel adapted to be loaded at one point along said cable and to be unloaded at a second point along said cable, a carrier on said cable adapted to be moved therealong in either direction, means for raising the shovel from the ground to the carrier and for lowering it, and means mounted on the shovel adapted to be adjusted at the point where the shovel is loaded, for causing the shovel to discharge its load at any predetermined point along the track cable, said means including a wheel adapted to engage and 'beirotated by said second cable as the carrier moves along the track cable, a drum rotated by said wheel and a flexible memher having one end connected to the drum and arrrnged to be wound therearound as the wheel rotates.

7. An excavating, shovel comprising in. combination, a frame, a bucket pivoted to said frame and tending to rotate about it pivotal axis when loaded, under the force of gravity, to empty itself, a wheel attached to said frame and adapted to engage a supporting cable, a latch for holding said bucket in loading position and means operatively connecting said latch and said wheel whereby the latch will be operated to release the bucket when the wheel has rotated a certain number of times.

8. An excavating shovel comprising in combination, a frame, a bucket pivoted to said frame and adapted to be held in one position to be loaded and to rotate about its pivotal axis to unloading position, re-

leasable means normally holding the bucket in loading position, a wheel mounted 011 tl e frame and adapted to roll on a trackway, and a member connecting the wheel and releasable means whereby the latter is oper ated when the wheel has progressed a predetermined distance along the traekway.

9. An excavating shovel comprising in combination, a frame, a bucket pivoted to said frame and adapted to occupy one position when being loaded and a second position when discharging its contents, releasable means for holding the bucket in load- .ing position, a wheel mounted on the frame and adapted to support the frame and bucket on a trackway, and an adjustable member connecting the wheel and releasable means, whereby the latter maybe actuated by the former to release the bucket to discharge its contents after the wheel has traveled any desired predetermined distance.

10. An excavating shovel comprising in combination, a frame, a bucket pivoted to said frame and adapted to occupy one posi tion when being loaded and a second position when discharging its contents, a latch pivoted to said frame and adapted to engage the bucket to hold it in loading position, a wheel mounted 011 the frame for supporting the frame and bucket on trackway, a flexible member connecting the wheel and latch, the length of said member being adjustable, the wheel being adapted to exert a pull on said member to release the latch and allow the bucket to be dumped, after traveling a predetermined distance along the trackway.

11. An excavating shovel comprising, in combination, a frame, a bucket pivoted to said frame and adapted to occupy one posi tion relatively thereto when being loaded, and a second position when discharging its contents, the weight of the material in the bucket tending to rotate the same into its second or discharging position, a latch pivoted to the frame and adapted to engage the bucket to hold it in loading position, a wheel mounted on the frame for supporting the frame and bucket on a trackway, a drum connected to the wheel, and a chain attached to the drum and to the latch, the length of which may be varied at will, the drum being adapted to wind up the chain as the wheel rolls along the track to release the latch, after traveling a predetermined distance.

In testimony whereof I afli'a: my signature.

WILLIAM JAMES BARNES.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

